Panel fastener

ABSTRACT

A fixing device including a male member adapted to be fixed to a decorating panel and a complimentary female retaining member adapted to be attached to a supporting panel. The male member is provided with a head portion having a holding flange of one diameter and a main flange of a larger diameter maintained in space relation whereby the male member is fixed to the decorative panel by inserting the holding flange into a key slot type aperture. The male member includes a shaft extending from the lower surface of the main flange and further includes a terminal bulbous engaging portion. The female member is provided with a hollow barrel body having a flanged head at the open end of said barrel and shoulder means for retaining the barrel in an aperture support panel. The female member is further provided with a plurality of axially extending ribs defining a first and second spherical cavity in spaced relation and adapted to accept the bulbous engaging portion in two axially spaced positions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a fixing device of the type to be used forfastening a decorative panel to a metal panel in a face-to-face union.More particularly the invention relates to an improved fixing devicewhich is effectively used such as when a decorative panel serving toline an automobile door is fastened to the inner surface of the door.

Generally, the decorative panel which is used such as in lining theautomobile body has its base plate coated on the surface with a sheetingmaterial such as fabric or vinyl leather. When the decorative panel isfixed to the inner side of the automobile door, therefore, there must beretained a relationship that said sheeting material is attached fast onits rear surface to the door. For this reason, the fixing device usedfor fastening the decorative panel of this type generally has aconstruction such that it can be inserted on the fitting side of thedecorative panel. Prior to the attachment of the decorative panel to theinside of the automobile door, this fixing device is inserted in thedecorative panel in such a manner that, when the decorative panel isbrought to confront the inside of the door, the engaging portion of thefixing device poses itself just in front of the fitting hole perforatedin advance in the inside panel of the door. Then, the fixing device isforcibly driven into tight engagement with the fixing hole as bystriking the surface of the decorative panel with a hammer, bringing thedecorative panel into fast union with the inside of the door.

The fixing devices of this kind which have been suggested to date have ageneral construction which comprises a head portion adapted to beattached to the decorative panel and an engaging portion adapted to beengaged with the fitting hole perforated in a metal panel such as theinside sheet of the automobile door. The hear portion has two flanges,one larger than the other, opposed to each other across an interveningneck and the engaging portion has a shaft (or stud) extending from theouter surface of one of said flanges in the axial direction of the neckand shoulder means protruding radially from the outer surface of theshaft. The use of this device is accomplished by inserting thesmall-diameter flange of said head portion from behind the decorativepanel into the fitting hole perforated in said panel until the neck isfully pierced through the hole and the panel is held securely betweenthe small-diameter flange and large-diameter flange, bringing theaforementioned engaging portion to a position directly opposite thefitting hole in the panel simultaneously with opposing the decorativepanel face to face to the metal panel as described above andsubsequently hammering the shoulder means into hooked engagement withthe edge of the fitting hole for thereby immobilizing the decorativepanel against the metal panel.

Since the conventional fixing device can be fitted into position frombehind the decorative panel and the fast engagement of the device withthe metal panel can be accomplished simply by hammering the device fromabove the surface of the decorative panel overlying the device, thedevice is not affected in any way by the kind of the sheet-shaped coverand the decorative panel can be joined with the metal panel with ampletightness. Conversely, once the conventional fixing device is fastenedto the panel by its engaging portion being driven home in the holeperforated in the panel, the shoulder means which have advanced past theperforated hole are brought into permanent engagement with the edge onthe rear side of the hole and the device itself generally possesses nomeans of breaking this engagement. When there arises necessity forremoving the decorative panel as when some built-in parts in theautomobile door are to be replaced or given repairs, for example, thefixing device may be broken by removal. If, in this case, the removal ofthe decorative panel is accomplished simply by breaking the fixingdevice, then the damage to be suffered may be slight. Since thedecorative panel is generally made of a material more brittle than themetal panel, however, it often happens that the decorative panel itselfor the edge of the hole perforated in the decorative panel for admittingthe head portion of the fixing device is broken sooner than the fixingdevice.

This invention has been accomplished with a view to solving the variousproblems described above. It is, accordingly, an object of thisinvention to provide a fixing device which is so adapted that the fixingdevice, when driven into a supporting panel of high strength such as ametal panel by the pressure applied from above the surface of adecorative panel in much the same way as the conventional fixing device,enables the decorative panel to be fastened onto the supporting paneland, on the other hand, where there arises necessity for removing thedecorative panel from the supporting panel, the engagement between thetwo panels can easily be broken by forcing a suitable tool into thecrack between the supporting panel and the decorative panel and pryingthe fixing device out of position.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To accomplish the object described above according to the presentinvention, there is provided a fixing device which is formed of asynthetic resin material such as polypropylene possessing suitableresiliency and surface slipperiness in combination with rigidity andwhich consists of a male member adapted to be fitted to a decorativepanel and a female member adapted to be fitted to a supporting panel,said two members being so constructed that they are coupled with eachother and consequently the decorative panel is fastened to thesupporting panel by causing a shaft provided on the male member tothrust into a hollow space formed inside the female member and bringingan engaging portion formed at the leading end of said shaft into fastengagement with a spherical cavity formed inside said hollow space and,conversely, the union of the two members is broken and consequently thedecorative panel is removed from the supporting panel by pulling theshaft out of the hollow space.

Another characteristic feature of the present invention resides inhaving the female member provided axially inside the hollow spacethereof with two spherical cavities each adapted to admit the engagingportion formed at the leading end of the shaft of the male member,whereby the male and female members can be joined in a temporaryengagement, viz. the female member can be fitted preparatorily onto themale member ready for attachment to the decorative panel by bringing theengaging portion of the shaft into engagement with the first sphericalcavity situated closer to the opening of the hollow space and the unionof the decorative panel with the supporting panel can be accomplished byinserting the female member into the fitting hole perforated in thesupporting panel, pressing the decorative panel down for therebybringing the female member into fast engagement with said fitting holeand, at the same time, advancing the engaging portion at the leading endof the shaft into the second spherical cavity and coupling the male andfemale members in a perfect engagement.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a front view of the male member of the fixing device, with theleft half portion sectioned.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the female member of the fixing device.

FIG. 3 is a sectioned view taken along the line III--III of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a partially sectioned explanatory diagram illustrating theright half portion held in a state of temporary engagement and the lefthalf portion held in a state of full engagement.

FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway exploded perspective view of the fixingdevice of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Now the characteristics of the present invention will be described infull detail with reference to the illustrated embodiment.

FIG. 1 represents a male member 1 of the fixing device according to thisinvention and FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 represent a female member 2 to becoupled with said male member 1.

The male member 1 is provided with a head portion 5 adapted to beengaged with a pyriform fitting hole 4 perforated in a decorative panel3 and a shaft 6 adapted to be thrust into engagement with the femalemember 2. The head portion 5 has a holding flange 8 of a small diameterand a main flange 9 of a large diameter opposed to each other across anintervening neck 7 possessing a circular periphery. The shaft 6 extendsperpendicularly from the lower surface of the main flange 9, oppositeneck 7, in the axial line of the neck 7 and terminates in a bulbousengaging portion 10.

The pyriform fitting hole 4 perforated in the decorative panel 3 isformed of a circular hole 4a of a large diameter and a circular hole 4bof a small diameter which are partially joined with each other. Thelarge-diameter hole 4a has a diameter which is greater than the diameterof said small-diameter holding flange 8 and smaller than the diameter ofsaid large-diameter main flange 9. The small-diameter hole 4b which ispartially joined with said large-diameter hole 4a has a diameter whichis smaller than the diameter of the holding flange 8. The constriction4c across which the two holes 4a, 4b communicates with each other has adimension sufficient in size to permit passage of the neck 7 of the headportion 5.

The male member 1 is fastened to the fitting hole 4 by inserting theholding flange 8 from one side (actually the reverse side) of thedecorative panel 3 into the large-diameter hole 4a until the main flange9 collides into the panel surface and then causing the male member inits entirety to slide sidewise in the direction of the small-diameterhole 4b for thereby advancing the neck 7 past the constriction 4c intothe small-diameter hole 4b and enabling the decorative panel to be heldsecurely by the holding flange 8 and the main flange 9 because of theintimate contact of the opposite surfaces of the panel with said twoflanges. In this case, the present embodiment equalizes the length ofthe neck 7 with the thickness of the decorative panel to enable theopposed surfaces of the holding flange 8 and the main flange 9 to comeinto effective planar contact with the opposite surfaces of thedecorative panel, lest the head portion already received in thesmall-diameter hole 4b should not readily move out into thelarge-diameter hole 4a. Futher with a view to ensuring safe planarcontact of the main flange 9, this embodiment provides the main flangeon the outer periphery thereof with resilient pieces 9a, 9b protrudingdiagonally in the upward direction and separates the lower surface ofthe holding flange 8 and the leading ends of the resilient pieces 9afrom each other by a vertical distance smaller than the thickness of thedecorative panel 3 so that the extremities of said resilient pieces 9awill be resiliently pressed against the panel surface to have thedecorative panel squeezed with added pressure between the main flangeand the holding flange 8.

When the holding flange 8 is thrust into the large-diameter hole 4a andthen moved sidewise into the small-diameter hole 4b in the process offitting the male member 1 to the decorative panel 3, the handler at workis required to pinch the male member 1 by the shaft 6, press the uppersurface of the main flange 9 against the decorative panel 3 with forceenough for the resilient pieces 9a, 9a diagonally protruding from theouter periphery of the main flange to bend out temporarily against theirresilience and then move the male member in situ in the direction of thesmall-diameter hole 4b. Then after the neck 7 has settled in its fixedposition, the pressure exerted on the main flange is released.Consequently, the resilient pieces 9a, 9a act upon one side (reverseside) of the decorative panel 3 and squeeze the decorative panel incooperation with the holding flange 8 now held on the other side of thepanel, with the result that the male member is prevented from enjoyingfreedom of movement from said fixed position.

When the male member is attached to the decorative panel 3 as describedabove, the resilient pieces 9a provided on the main flange 9 are pressedagainst the one side of the panel and the male member 1 is consequentlyfastened to the panel by the panel itself being held securely betweenthe main flange 9 and the holding flange. The squeezing force with whichthe decorative panel is held fast is such that even in the presence of agap between the edge of the small-diameter hole 4b of the pyriformfitting hole 4 and the neck, said resilient pieces 9a functioneffectively to keep the male member securely in position and prevent itfrom freely moving out of position. When the fixing device is used tofasten the decorative panel to the metal panel on the automobile body,therefore, there is no possibility of the fixing device readily fallingout of the fitting hole or moving out of position under external force.Thus, the fixing device of this invention can be used in a stable stateat all times.

Since, in the fixing device of this invention, said resilient pieces 9aare extended from the outer periphery of the main flange 9 in the radialdirections parting from the neck 7 of the head portion 5 and are adaptedto act uniformly upon the lower surface of the holding flange 8, theyenable the shaft 6 to be held constantley perpendicuar to the decorativepanel 3 and consequently to be disposed perpendicularly relative to thefitting hole perforated in said panel for engagement with the shaft. Inthe illustrated embodiment, one pair of such resilient pieces aresymmetrically disposed on the neck. When necessary, three or four suchresilient pieces may be equiangularly disposed on the outer periphery ofthe main flange so as to extend radially in three or four directions.

The female member 2 with which said male member 1 is to be coupled has,as its main body, a hollow barrel 11 substantially of the shape of aninverted cone and it has an annular fitting flange or head 13 providedon the periphery of the opening 12 of said barrel 11 and a plurality ofshoulder means 14 provided on the outer surface of the barrel 11 in sucha manner as to be axially spaced from and opposed to the lower surfaceof the annular fitting flange 13. In the depth of the empty spaceembraced in the barrel 11, two spherical cavities 15, 16 are disposedeach adapted to engage the bulbous engaging portion 10 formed at theleading end of the shaft 6 of the male member 1.

The barrel 11 of the female member in the present embodiment is soformed that the largest outside diameter thereof at the opening 12 isequal to or slightly smaller than the inside diameter of a hole 18perforated in a supporting panel 17. Conversely, the shoulder means 14protrude from the outer surface of the barrel 11 so that their outermostradial extent falls on an imaginary circle having a diameter greaterthan the inside diameter of said hole 18. The extremities of theshoulder means 14 closer to the barrel 11 are separated from the lowersurface of the fitting flange 13 to form a gap or groove 19 foradmitting the edge of said hole 18 between said extremities and thefitting flange 13.

The bore in the barrel 11 is formed with a depth sufficient to acceptthe entire length of the shaft 6 of the female member inclusive of thebulbous engaging portion 10. On the inner wall of this bore in thebarrel there are provided three raised axially extending ribs, each of aprofile designed to form said spherical cavities 15, 16 which are formedequidistantly in the axial direction of the barrel.

The raised ribs 20 are situated substantially at the center of the depthof the empty bore as illustrated in FIG. 4. Each of the raised ribsconsists, in the direction from the opening 12 side toward the insidebottom of the barrel 11, of an inclined face 20a oriented toward theinside bottom, a face 20b parallel to the axis of the barrel 11, aconcavely arcuate face 20c, a face 20d parallel to the axis and asemi-arcuate face 20e inclined toward the inside bottom of the barrel inthe manner of a continued range of mountains. The three raised ribs aredisposed substantially parallel and circumferentially spaced at fixedintervals on the inside wall of the barrel 11, whereby the threeparallel faces 20b jointly form a substantially annular step, the threearcuate faces 20c form a substantially spherical (first) cavity 15, thethree parallel faces 20d form a second annular step and the threearcuate faces 20e form in conjunction with the inside bottom of thebarrel a spherical (second) cavity 16. Further, the inclined faces 20 ain the portions of said raised ribs 20, closest to the opening 12,jointly form a guide portion which serves to guide the engaging portion10 formed at the leading end of the shaft 6 of the male member 1 intothe cavity 15 formed as described above.

The two cavities 15, 16 are defined by said arcuate faces 20c and 20ewhich fall on imaginary spheres spacious enough for admitting thebulbous engaging portion 10 of the male member. The engaging portion 10which is pushed into the empty bore of the barrel 11 through the guideportion formed by the inclined faces 20a spreads out the step formed bythe parallel faces 20b and enters the first cavity 15 to be retainedtherein. As the shaft 6 of the male member 1 is further pushed into thebore of the barrel 11, the engaging portion 10 spreads out the secondstep defined by parallel faces 20d and enters the second cavity 16 to beheld fast therein. In this case, in order that greater resistance isoffered to the engaging portion 10 when the engaging portion enters thesecond cavity 16 than when it enters the first cavity 15, i.e. that thesecond cavity exerts greater holding strength upon the engaging portionthan the first cavity, the present embodiment has said raised ribs soformed that the relative diameter of the second step is slightly smallerthan that of the first step.

In this embodiment, the shaft 6 of the male member is so formed that itsbase portion 21 which joins the main flange 9 has an outside diameterequal to or slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the opening 12of the barrel 11 of the female member 2. Along in the middle of theentire length of the shaft 6, the outside diameter is graduallydecreased downwardly. The tapered portion of the shaft 6 terminates in asmall neck 22 which is joined to the shaft 6 and the enlarged generallyspherical engaging portion 10. This small neck 22 defines a diametersmaller than the diameters of the first and second steps formed insidethe bore of the barrel 11, so that the small neck will never spread outthese steps after the engaging portion 10 has entered the cavities 15,16. The base portion 21 has a length equalling the axial distancebetween the two cavities 15, 16 so that it will be positioned outsidethe opening 12 when the engaging portion 10 is received tightly in thefirst cavity 15 and it will be completely stowed inside the opening whenthe engaging portion is shifted into the second cavity 6.

The female member 2 which is generally complementary to the male member1 may be attached to the hole 18 perforated in the supporting panel 17by inserting the barrel 11 thereof into said hole 18 and then pressingit down until the lower surface of the fitting flange 13 contacts onesurface of the panel 17 and the shoulder means 14 formed on the outersurface of the barrel advance past the entire thickness of the panel. Asthe female member is thus inserted into the hole 18, the shoulder means14 which have slid past the panel substantially regain their originalshape and sizes behind the panel by virtue of resiliency and come intohooked engagement with the edge of the hole, said hooked engagementserving to preclude possible separation of the female member 2 from thepanel. Consequently, the female member 2 is fastened securely to thesupporting panel.

The preferred method of fastening a decorative panel to the supportingpanel by use of the fixing device of this invention constructed asdescribed above will now be explained. First, the head portion 5 of themale member 1 is set into the pyriform fitting hole 4 by the methoddescribed above, with the shaft 6 protruding from the surface of thedecorative panel. Then, a female member 2 is positioned adjacent eachshaft 6 in such a manner as to almost embrace the shaft and then pushedaxially to have the shaft 6 received inside the barrel 11, with theengaging portion 10 at the leading end of the shaft led in by the guideportion formed of the raised ribs on the inner wall of the barrel 11,until the engaging portion 10 snaps into fast engagement with the firstcavity 15, thereby bringing the male and female members into temporaryunion. After the two members have been brought into temporary union asdescribed above, the barrel 11 of each female member 2 is inserted intoa hole 18 perforated in the supporting panel 17. By means of impactsproduced on the surface of the decorative panel 3 such as with a hammer,the female member 2 is driven home and fastened to the hole 18 and, atthe same time, the engaging portion 10 received previously intotemporary engagement inside the first cavity 15 is pushed further intothe second cavity 16, bringing the two members into permanent union.Consequently, the decorative panel 3 is fastened to the supporting panel17.

Because use of the fixing device of this invention enables the malemember 1 to be attached to the rear surface of the decorative panel andthe female member 2 to be also joined with the male member 1 in the formof temporary engagement, it follows that desired fastening of thedecorative panel to the supporting panel can be accomplished by a verysimple procedure of groping for and locating the hole 18 perforated inthe supporting panel, inserting the barrel 11 of the female member intothe hole 18 and subsequently striking the surface of the decorativepanel for thereby driving the shaft 6 of the female member into thebarrel 11. Particularly in the case of a part consisting of two memberssuch as those of the fixing device of this invention, the fact that thetwo members can be joined in advance proves high convenient for the sakeof management of parts. The work of first causing a plurality of femalemembers to be attached in advance to as many male members andsubsequently pushing all the coupled fixing devices at once into theholes perforated in the supporting panel is slighty more efficient andmore convenient than the work which generally requires the plurality offixing devices to be pushed and fastened one after another into theholes perforated for the purpose of attachment of one decorative panel.In the actual work, the fixing device of this invention is attached tothe hole perforated in the supporting panel, with its male and femalemembers kept in a coupled state. Because of the particular constructionof the female member, however, the final fastening of the fixing devicecan also be accomplished by first attaching the female member alone tothe hole and then bringing into engagement with this female member themale member which has been fitted in advance to the decorative panel.

Because, in the fixing device of this invention, the engaging portion 10provided at the leading end of the shaft of the male member 1 is formedin a generally spherical shape and the two cavities 15, 16 providedinside the barrel 11 of the female member 2 for accepting said engagingportion 10 are each formed in a spherical shape corresponding to theshape of the engaging portion, a pull given to the shaft with a forceequalling the force exerted at the time of engagement enables theengaging portion to move out of the cavity and slide over the stepencircling the entrance to the empty space inside the barrel 11.Consequently the two members can be separated and the decorative panelcan be removed from mounted position on the supporting panel. Of coursein this case, the separation of the two panels necessitates inserting asuitable tool in the crack between the supporting panel and thedecorative panel and prying one panel off the other panel. The fact thatthe decorative panel can be removed provides access so the parts usedinside the door can be replaced, inspected and otherwise handled withmuch greater ease and convenience than the conventional fixing device ofthe same class.

Further, the fixing device of the present invention is so constructedthat when the engaging portion 10 at the leading end of the shaftpreviously brought into temporary engagement in the first cavity ispushed further into the second cavity to be retained more securelytherein, the base portion 21 of the shaft 6 is stowed completely insidethe opening of the female member to fill up the empty space therein,prevent the barrel from bending inwardly and preclude possible releaseof the shoulder means 14 . Thus, the female member can never escape fromthe hole in the supporting panel unless the union of the male and femalemembers is broken. The fixing device, accordingly, ensures fastattachment of the decorative panel.

In the preferred embodiment described above, the raised ribs 20 each inthe shape of a range of mountains are formed along the axial directionof the barrel 11 for the purpose of providing two cavities 15, 16 insidethe bore of the barrel of the female member. The particular dispositionof said raised ribs eliminates the problems involved in the fabricationof the female member and aims to provide effective expansion of thebarrel during the insertion and extraction of the engaging portion 10.This invention is not limited to this embodiment. For example, amodification aimed at providing the two cavities as by formingcontinuous annular steps of a cross section resembling that of a wave atfixed intervals in the axial direction on the inner wall of the barreldoes not contradict the object of the present invention. Permissibilityof such a modification also applies to the shoulder means which areprovided on the outer surface of the barrel. A shoulder means formed inthe shape of an annular step, not shown, at a position corresponding tothat of the fitting flange 13 can bring about substantially the sameeffect as that produced by the shoulder means of the embodimentdescribed above. In short, all the raised ribs formed on the inside wallof the barrel, are designed to take into consideration both the ease ofrelease from metal dies used at the time of fabrication and with a viewto facilitating the elastic deformation during the attachment of thefemale member to the hole in the supporting panel and during the unionof the female and male members.

What is claimed is:
 1. A plastic fixing device for mounting a decorativepanel on an apertured supportng panel comprising a male member adaptedto be fastened to said decorative panel and a female member adapted tobe attached to said apertured supporting panel, which device ischaracterized by the fact that said male member is provided with headmeans for fastening said male member to the decorative panel, said malemember further including a shaft extending from the said head means andterminating in a bulbous engaging portion, said female member includinga hollow barrel open at one end, a fitting flange extending outwardlyfrom the periphery of the opening at one end of said barrel and shouldermeans protruding from the outer surface of the barrel so that the femalemember can be attached to said supporting panel by inserting said barrelthrough a hole perforated in the supporting panel, said female memberbarrel is further provided inside the hollow interior thereof with afirst spherical cavity and a second spherical cavity co-axially spacedso that when the shaft of said male member is telescopically receivedthrough the end opening into the hollow barrel interior of the femalemember and the male and female members are brought into temporaryengagement by driving said shaft to a first position of insertion byseating the bulbous engaging portion in said first spherical cavity, thetwo members are brought into full engagement by axially driving theshaft to a second position of insertion and thereby seating the bulbousengaging portion in said second spherical cavity, whereby the decorativepanel is fastened to the supporting panel.
 2. The fixing deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein said shaft is provided with a base portionextending from the lower surface of the head means of the male membersaid base portion has a diameter equal to or slightly smaller than theinside diameter of the opening to the empty space inside the barrel ofthe female member and, at the same time, the shaft is formed in a lengthsuch that the base portion is positioned outside the barrel when thebulbous engaging portion at the leading end of the shaft is brought intoengagement with the first spherical cavity inside the barrel and thebase portion is substantially completely positioned inside the openingof the barrel when the engaging portion is axially moved to the secondspherical cavity.
 3. The fixing device according to claim 1, wherein thebarrel of said female member has the shape of an inverted cone with itsdiameter gradually decreased in the direction away from said open endand fitting flange toward an opposite end and the second sphericalcavity is formed at the lower portion of the empty space at saidopposite end in the barrel.
 4. The fixing device according to claim 3,wherein said opposite end of said barrel is closed and the inner wall ofthe barrel of said female member includes a plurality ofcircumferentially spaced raised axial ribs each having in axialcross-section and each presenting on the exposed side thereof facing theaxis of said barrel in consecutive order descending axially from theopen end an upwardly slanted face, a flat face, an inwardly arcuateface, a flat face and a semi-arcuate face formed at required intervalsin the axial direction whereby the inwardly arcuate faces of said raisedribs jointly form the first spherical cavity and the semi-arcuate facesof the raised ribs along with the closed end of said barrel jointly formthe second spherical cavity.
 5. The fixing device according to claim 1,wherein the head means of said male member includes a main flange and aholding flange maintained in spaced relation by a reduced neck portion,the periphery of said main flange of said male member is integrallyprovided with resilient arms having the extremities thereof extendedtoward said holding flange opposed to said main flange.
 6. The fixingdevice according to claim 5, wherein the resilient arms provided on saidperiphery of the main flange are radially extended from said periphery.7. The fixing device according to claim 5, wherein at least one pair ofresilient arms are symmetrically disposed relative to the axis of themain flange.
 8. The fixing device according to claim 5, wherein thevertical distance between the extremities of the resilient arms and theopposed face of said holding flange is smaller than the thickness of thepanel to which said male member is attached.